


wrong questions, right answers

by Winga



Category: Fire and Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post-Canon, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27629000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winga/pseuds/Winga
Summary: And all I've crossed, ain't worth a quarter.It's muddy water, until now.There's a light, my footsteps guiding.For I've been hiding, until now.
Relationships: Thomas Lynn/Polly Whittacker
Kudos: 6





	wrong questions, right answers

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Vääriä kysymyksiä, oikeita vastauksia](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27280465) by [Tan Audel (Vehka)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vehka/pseuds/Tan%20Audel). 



The room is dim. The evening sun shines through the cracks in the blinds, drawing lines of light on the right side of Tom's face, neck, and the hand holding the bow. _Contours_ , Polly thinks. _Shadows and light, fully neither._

The strips of light bring out only a part of Tom: some golden locks of hair, the metal hinge of his glasses, the frayed edge of the sleeve in his sweater. The corner of his mouth, wrinkled with concentration as he plays.

It’s August outside. The day has been hot, and even though it’s cooler now, Polly can still feel the dried up sweat and dust on her face and neck. However, she’s stuck, sitting on the floor of Tom’s apartment, and she doesn’t know how long he’s been playing for - but at least for some hours, as the strips of light have slowly moved through the room from the piano to the armchair and the piles of sheet music covering it and then to Tom’s hair, ruffling them and stroking his face.

At first it had been bright in the room, so much so that Tom had seen the sheet music well and played by reading. He’d paused, now and then, smiled at Polly and told things about the songs he’d played, but for the last half an hour it had been so dim that Tom had been playing with his eyes closed. Polly isn’t sure if he plays by memory or if he finds the right notes as he moves on, but nevertheless the music is beautiful, and neither of them is ready to break the circle of magic, outside of which everything else is left.

Finally Tom pulls the bow for one last, long note and stops. The note echoes in the room, makes space for silence, which entwines with the dimness. Polly, too, closes her eyes and for a moment they sit in silence, like they’re listening to the memory of the music played.

“Polly,” Tom says. Polly opens her eyes, blinks them, because the shaft of sunlight has reached her face now. “I guess you should go.”

It’s difficult to read his face in the dimness of the room but in his voice Polly can hear the unwillingness and worry and guilt, and she would love to push all those feelings away and replace them with something more right, more bright. She stands up and grimaces at her numb legs.

Tom puts his cello back in its case, and stands in the middle of the floor, his hands in his pockets. He looks like he doesn’t know what to do, so Polly huffs and takes the few steps between them to bring them face to face.

“Listen now -,” Tom begins, and is about to back down, but with determination Polly grabs him by his shoulders.

“You listen now,” Polly says and rises up to kiss his chin, “what if I don’t go?”

Tom seems flustered. He doesn’t seem to know what to say, so Polly goes on: 

“You don’t know. I don’t know. But you don’t even dare to ask, so how did you ever think you’d get any answers? So. What if I stay?”

“But what about -”

“That’s the wrong question,” she interrupts and kisses Tom, and this time everything is right. Tom smells of sweat and August and the confusion so characteristic of him, and his arms around Polly are careful and gentle. He kisses her back and even though the kiss is filled with uncertainty, she figures that they’re finally on the same page about the answer to the question.


End file.
